Rock and Roll, Blue Jeans, Rap...The Civilization of the Future!

While searching randomly online I came upon this video of an interview of theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. Here he talks about where our civilization stands in the grand scheme of energy use, culture, communication, and what could de-rail us in the future. To summerize, we are a Type 0 civilization, gaining our energy from dead plants and animals (i.e. coal, oil). Type 1 derives their energy directly from the sun, Type 2 from the solar system, and Type 3 the galaxy. Now if that sounds like science fiction, we can take solace in the fact that Kaku goes on to say that the internet is the beggining of a Type 1 communicaton system, along with our pop culture and economy not being far behind (as he estimates, 100 years). Knowing that scientists sometimes have trouble articulating ideas in laymens terms, I found Kaku to be pretty entertaining.
Kaku also warns that things such as nuclear proliferation, germ warfare, and global warming are hurdles that prevent us from reaching these new types of civilization. I found it interesting that their were actual benchmarks in the progress of our own civilization, a tanglible set of goals to strive for that everyone could participate in in their own way. As I looked further into this theory, I found that Kaku had extended the civilization types to include things such as economy, culture, and language, expanding on the Kardashev Scale which mostly dealt with energy (By and by, I guess were at about .71, still a while away from Type 1.)
This L.A. Times article also talks about where we stand on this scale. If Kaku is right, the politics, choices and and decisions of today are infinitely more important then we may realize. If we really are at the threshold of a new type of society, then the responsibility we hold to assure it's continuation could be in some history book in a thousand years, maybe as the generation who led the them into a new era. Or maybe it'll be a handful of people standing in 140 degree weather all day wondering what ever happened to that crazy "snow" we used to have, and how the hell we managed to screw things up. Either way, it kinda puts some perspective on the decisions we make today.